Ikea quashes hide-and-seek in stores

Ikea has stopped plans by thousands of people to play hide-and-seek in its mazelike stores in the Netherlands.

After a spirited round of the children’s game attracted hundreds of people to a Belgian Ikea outlet last summer, the world’s biggest furniture retailer has forbidden similar events in several of its Dutch stores, citing safety reasons. The organizers of the games, who got word out over Facebook, are now looking for alternative locations.

“It’s hard to control,” Ikea Group spokesman Martina Smedberg said by phone. “We need to make sure people are safe in our stores and that’s hard to do if we don’t even know where they are.”

More than 32,000 people have signed up via Facebook to play hide-and-seek at Ikea’s Eindhoven store, while 19,000 registered interest in a game in Amsterdam and 12,000 for one in Utrecht. The vendor has 13 Dutch stores.

Ikea granted permission for one game of hide-and-seek in its store in Wilrijk, Belgium in July after 29-year-old Elise De Rijck put it on her list of 30 things to do before her 30th birthday.